Looks like a wolf spider. I got but by one and that sucker hurt! As for the tarantula hawk Christine I have heard they have one of the second most painful insect bite on the planet. That's scary!!! But I think the rarely bite humans Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
When my family first bought our farm house I saw 2 or 3 of those in the bushes around the patio. I never went near the patio.
When I was a kid, those things were everywhere in the fields and gardens. We called them banana spiders. You couldn't play tag out in the field without running through a whole bunch of those webs. Sometimes you'd get one on you. They were harmless but scratchy when the ran around on your arm or leg. :p We often threw grasshoppers to them. The way they'd grab them and wrap them up in silk was cool to watch.
we did the same thing with a fly. We found out they are black and yellow garden spiders. like you said, they're harmless.
Put hedge apples around the perimeter of your house, under the crawlspace or in the basement. You wont have any spiders and they smell pretty good!
